The Mysterious Traveler aired on the Mutual Broadcasting Network for almost nine years (Dec. 5, 1943–Sept. 16, 1952) and, oddly enough, never had a sponsor. It ran the gamut from science-fiction, fantasy, and horror, to mystery and suspense. The shows were written by Robert Arthur (1909-1969, photo at lower right, typing) and David P. Kogan …

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“Immortal Gentleman” aired on Lights Out, June 14, 1939. Lights Out (1934-1947) was radio’s premier horror series. It was created by writer/director Willis Cooper, who would later pen the script for the Boris Karloff horror film Son of Frankenstein (1939). Lights Out set the standard for other macabre radio dramas in the 1930’s primarily for …

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The incomparable Fritz Leiber’s (1910-1992) “A Pail of Air” was first published in the December, 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. This post-apocalyptic story takes place after a black star (a dead sun) arrives near our solar system and, in a battle of gravitational forces with our own sun, rips Earth from its orbit. Earth …

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George R. Stewart (1895-1980) spent most of his life as an English professor at the University of California, Berkeley, though he would travel widely, driving back and forth across the country several times during the 1940’s in his capacity as a toponymist (one who studies place-names and their origins). Earth Abides was published in 1949, …

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